


I'll Go With You (around the corner)

by marsakat



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternative Universe - Mall, Christmas Eve, Enemies to Lovers, First Kiss, Identity Reveal, M/M, Online Romance, TOPFL Christmas Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-27 16:20:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17165237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marsakat/pseuds/marsakat
Summary: Tyler's friends insist that he sign up for a dating app, and he caves, realizing that he has no one to be romantic with at Christmas.Meanwhile, a new guy is hired at his job and they instantly don't like each other.





	I'll Go With You (around the corner)

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by my favorite Christmas movie, Shop Around the Corner.

Tyler had woken up one day realizing that he had no one to spoil with gifts on Christmas Day. To clarify; it was August, and he did have his family members to buy presents for, but those were obligatory. No, he was looking for someone _special,_  a significant other to decorate a tree and dance in the glow of the lights, or hold hands while ice skating. He wanted to spend weeks thinking about how to make that year’s holiday memorable, and then a lifetime’s worth of Decembers after that. Tyler wanted to bring that spark of holiday happiness to someone’s eyes— an unknown someone for now.

He felt absolute panic at that point. There was _no one_ in his life at the moment he was even remotely romantically interested in, besides the unfairly cute baristas at the Starbucks in the mall where he worked. He didn’t even like coffee, but he’d stop by every few days to make a fool of himself stumbling over his order of hot chocolate or the occasional tea. It must be a job requirement at this Starbucks to be attractive. Tyler didn’t have the balls to ask any of them out, and their cool, hipster aesthetic clashed with his ‘sweatpants and Doritos crumbs’ standard outfits.

“You lost me there—” Mark cut into Tyler’s speech. “I don’t know what The Hot Starbucks has to do with Christmas… Do you need my help asking one of them out?”

Tyler was sitting on the counter of the customer service desk, swinging his feet— Mark was on duty and Tyler had shown up too early to clock in. Mid-morning on a Wednesday in August was understandably slow.

“No, no. I’m not looking to have like a wild, impassioned, and artistic relationship where we spend a lot of time in dark, smoky rooms trying to look cool.  We’d both say that being too cheesy and romantic ‘isn’t us at all’, but really we _do_ want that. By being too enigmatic to talk about our feelings, we’d slowly grow to resent each other and they’d probably emotionally cheat on me with some guy who looks just like me but has better teeth.” Tyler sipped at his Hibiscus Tea, which wasn’t as bad as he feared—he got it only because he got weird looks the last time he ordered hot chocolate on a 90 degree day.

“Whoa, dude. I think you’re overthinking that,” Mark leaned on a stack of boxes Tyler would have to unload after he clocked in.

“Not really,” Tyler protested. “There’s a certain type of person who works at Starbucks and that’s how—”

“No, that’s just _your_ impression, and, let’s be real—part of the problem,” Mark replied, one of the few people able to be completely honest with Tyler and point out his bullshit. “Those Starbucks baristas are all very nice, and you know what—you probably would have a great time dating any one of them. But you find excuses why it’s not the right time or why you don’t want to give someone a chance.”

“I don’t—”

“Yeah, man. You do. We all have tried to match you up with people we know, but you’ve pulled every excuse in the book as to why it just ‘won’t work out’,” Mark gestured at the other employees working around the store, all of whom had indeed tried to play matchmaker at least once.

“I swear my goldfish was sick that one time!”

“I live with you! You didn’t have a goldfish!”

Tyler sighed and deflated, “you’re right. I have high standards and here I am at nearly thirty with no boyfriend, girlfriend, or any sort of significant other. And I guess that’s just the epiphany I’ve been having since I woke up this morning. I need to just, like, throw myself out there and be more open to someone new.”

“Atta, boy,” Mark said encouragingly. “You’re one of my best friends, and I want you to be happy. I want you to meet someone cool and I wouldn’t mind the first few times I have to bang on the wall to tell you to keep it down when f—”

“And how are my Employees of the month for March and June doing today? Working hard?” their boss, David, snuck up on them and Mark and Tyler (June and March, respectively) had to conceal their jumps of surprise.

“Of course we are,” chimed in Lyle, who of course was hovering close enough for David to see that he was a stellar employee.

Mark rolled his eyes and Tyler made a face at Lyle that he couldn’t see since he was too busy figuratively kissing their boss’s ass. A lot of their time away from work was spent complaining about how annoying Lyle was.

“Lyle… What a shitty name. It’s like Kyle….but worse,” was usually how they introduced stories of Lyle to new people.

“I’ve already sold two Comfort Blankets and it’s not even 11am!” Lyle boasted and Tyler tried not to gag.

“Looks like you’re well on your way to be Mr. August, Mr. February.” David winked. “You all better catch up on your numbers. I may need a new manager if we’re able to up our profit margin enough.”

“Lemme just clock in and then I’ll be off to the races, David,” Tyler put on his cheery retail voice, and marched off to the timeclock.

He had been employed at Snazzy Gifts the longest of anyone, ever since it had opened up at that mall four years before.  In direct competition with Brookstone, they had started off as a kiosk, then moved to an actual storefront as they became more popular with their unusual gifts and funky tech equipment. They were usually busy with people wandering through and trying out the items. The key was getting someone to actually purchase the product— Tyler had been fed a million and a half excuses as to why the customer didn’t _need_ it. He was getting to be quite skilled at countering those claims with a wide array of reasons as to why they _had to have it_.

They had only one manager, Jenna, who covered when David wasn’t around. David was still very involved so they didn’t need too many management people; however, he kept dropping major hints of moving to an even bigger location and maybe the opening of a second store at a different mall nearby. If that were to happen, Tyler felt he gave more than enough time and showed how hard he worked to win that promotion.

He had a charming way about him when he was on the job. Smiling, quick-witted; customers liked him and he was one of the highest sellers. David was very focused on the “Product of the Month”, which was an item that usually had low sales that he wanted them to push. Whoever sold the most of whatever product he chose, was most likely going to be employee of the month. Everyone who wanted the manager position was working their tails off to sell, sell, sell.

August was a weighted blanket, which was a popular item— it was just hard to sell to people a hundred-fifty dollar blanket in the heat of summer, regardless of how lightweight it was. Tyler pushed that aspect, and still had trouble closing deals. He was sure Lyle was lying about his numbers.

By 1pm he was able to sell at least one, along with other items, and it was turning out to be a pretty profitable day. Coming back from his lunch break (the fact that the mall had a Taco Bell in the food court, as well as proximity to their rental house, was all a deciding factor in why he chose to work there), Tyler felt reinvigorated to sell more niche and luxury items.

In fact, he was even daring enough to try and push one of the massage chairs, which were typically impossible to sell. People didn’t buy those on a whim at all, and if he could do it, David would be thrilled. There were always people hanging out in the massage chairs, and David insisted they didn’t chase them out unless they were in them for over 30 minutes.

(“It’s psychological. They’ll feel guilty for using a free service and then will be compelled to buy something,” he explained. Tyler was doubtful.)

A very tattooed guy was sitting in the turbo version of the most popular massage chair; Tyler tried not to judge people on appearance. This customer could potentially be a very famous rockstar looking to drop some serious cash.

“You look very comfy there!” Tyler exclaimed, and the customer jumped.

“S-sorry, I was just… I was waiting and this was the only seat I saw, and—” He tried to stand but was too sunken into the chair to extricate himself easily.

“No, no! It’s fine. You can chill out here, I’ll just tell you a bit about the chair you’re in—did you get a chance to turn on the calf massagers? They’re awesome. So this chair comes with nine pre-programmed massage sequences, _and_ a MP3 sound system.” Tyler started fiddling with the buttons, confused why this guy still looked terrified. “See? Touchscreen remote, but it’s also voice activated and customizable for up to five individual people. We’re actually running a sale on—”

“I’m so sorry, but, I uh- I’m not looking to buy a massage chair. I actually saw your ‘Help Wanted’ sign and I um… want to apply?” The _fake_ customer finally spoke up, and Tyler’s face felt hot with embarrassment and annoyance that he went through _a lot_ of the sales pitch unnecessarily.

“Oh, uh, we’re not actually hiring right now, I guess they forgot to take down the sign. We just hired a new person and—”

“Excuse me, Tyler. We _are_ actually hiring,” chimed in slimy Lyle. “Let _me_ get the manager for you.”

“No, I’ll do it!” Tyler hated giving Lyle any extra kudos with David.

David appeared anyway, “Is there a problem here?”

“No!” Tyler and Lyle said at the same time.

“I’m just looking for a job, please,” piped up the still-unnamed guy.

David gave him a once over. “Ah. I see… Any prior experience?”

“Yeah, tons! Worked at Guitar Center, and also Starbucks and Target, folded clothes late at night for Macy’s. I’ve done lots of seasonal retail work.” He shifted from foot to foot, clearly thrown off that the interview was happening in the middle of the store with other employees standing nearby. That was just how David operated, and Tyler had seen many applicants falter, but if they couldn’t handle this, then they probably couldn’t handle the sales pressure. Or at least that was David’s philosophy.

“Can you sell this?” David pointed at the display of Comfort Blankets. The guy nodded. “Can you sell it to that lady who’s looking at it?”

“Right now?” He said with disbelief, and David nodded with a serious face. “Alright.”

If Tyler wasn’t still in a pissy mood about Lyle and the awkwardness with this guy, he would’ve felt more sympathetic that every eye was on him making his shy approach. But honestly, it didn’t look so good at that moment for the applicant. He walked over without any confidence, looking like he wanted to shrink into a nondescript speck of dust on the floor. Tyler was a hundred percent sure that there was no way he’d even come close to selling the blanket (of which he was struggling to as well), and he made a private bet with himself to visit the hot Starbucks if he was right.

“Hey, I see you’re checking out the weighted blanket,” he started, looking at the display and standing right next to her.

She shrugged, “I guess. I’ve heard about them on TV, but I’m not sure… it’s kind of a high price for a blanket.”

“Yeah, you would think so, but it’s a lot more than just a blanket. I’ve actually got one. Not this one, but I have one”

“Oh really?” the customer said with some doubt in her voice.

“Yeah, I’ve got some sleep problems… a bit of anxiety and stuff at night,” He picked up the sample one and weighed it in his hands. “Wow, this is one is a lot softer than mine. And the beads are better distributed.”

“What does that mean?”

“Oh, so this one has, like, segments that keep the weight all evenly distributed. Some of the cheaper ones have sand inside and it spreads out and eventually you lose the weightedness. And this fabric is really nice.”

He held it out and she pet the blanket, eventually taking it in her own hands.

“Wow this is… kinda heavy,” the customer remarked.

“Oh yeah, it’s heavy when you hold it like that, but spread over your whole body… it’s like a nice hug. It’s really grounding and I go right to sleep when I use mine.”

“Wouldn’t it get hot? It’s August.”

“Nah, feel how cotton-y the blanket is? It probably breathes really well… they design these blankets so you can use them year ‘round. My apartment doesn’t have A/C and I use mine no problem,” he smiled and they laughed together.

Tyler watched with disbelief; seeing this random guy show up completely out of the blue, _not_ look like a salesman at all, get thrown at a customer and actually do a decent job. He chanced a glance at David and saw that he was unfortunately impressed. In a second he knew— this guy was a threat. He seemed to play it nice, but with retail experience, even he could be a contender for the management position. In all his years at Snazzy Gifts, Tyler had never seen David hire someone and print up a badge for them so quickly. Granted, the guy’s name was Josh and they definitely had one single name tag that was passed down between every Josh who had been hired and then left.

Josh started working that very shift, and who else was he assigned to train with, but Tyler, whose mood just got worse. The new employee was _too_ nice and friendly, and got along too well with everyone else who worked there, or walked in the store. Tyler couldn’t help but give him short responses.

“So how long have you worked here?”

“Long enough.”

“Are you local to the area.”

“Yeah.”

“Is there anything I should know with people who work here? Anything I should be careful about?”

“You’ll figure it out.”

“Where’s the bathroom?”

“I hold my pee.”

He knew he was being vindictive, but Tyler just didn’t feel like dealing with this new guy who was probably going to quit before Thanksgiving anyway and leave them short for the holiday. Tyler just wanted the shift to be over and so he could go home and mope. Mark was giving him the hairy eyeball, which was a clear sign he’d be getting told off later.

Despite Tyler’s unhelpfulness, Josh managed to have a good first shift and even sold two more Comfort Blankets. Ultra competitive, it ate Tyler on the inside to see the guy do so well, which he knew was immature and douchey of him to feel that way—just a reflection on his own insecurities, but then again he was feeling very vulnerable and lonely as of late. Which brought him back to his earlier conversation with Mark; he needed to get out there, find someone to date, and get laid—the last of which would probably help his mood, after all.

* * *

Mark got home before him, and Tyler came in knowing to beat him to it before Mark could tell him off for being a dick to the new guy.

“Please… show me your ways. Sign me up for a dating app.”

Sometimes sacrifices needed to be made to prevent a scolding.

They browsed five different apps, making a pros and cons list for each. Mark suggested signing up for everything, but Tyler insisted that his head would explode trying to keep track of everything. Finally they settled on one newer called Classifieds, which felt like it was right up Tyler’s alley.

“So apparently it’s all about getting to know the person _anonymously_ before you actually meet. No photos, just an avatar they chose for you based on a personality quiz. You fill out the profile and they match you with people to chat with,” Mark explained from the article he was reading about all the latest dating sites. “Their philosophy— and the encourage the users—is to have you talk with the person for a long, long time before meeting. Says it’s all about the ‘coming together of the minds. Getting to know a  person by who they are rather than just swiping right or left on their photo’. Jeez, if that’s not you, I don’t know what is…”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever, man. Okay, I’ll sign up for that one,” Tyler agreed.

He stayed up late that night, as he would have done anyway. He didn’t have to work till the afternoon. Mark had long since went to bed and Tyler was still sprawled on the couch, having signed up for an account, did the personality test to get his avatar (“Blue Bambi? What the hell?”), and filled out the profile questions (“what kind of relationship are you looking for?” Long-term/serious. “what music do you listen to when you want to relax?” Sigur Rós. “what’s a life goal you have?” To catch a deer with my bare hands.).

Feeling that he had represented himself sufficiently, Tyler did the very last thing the app required him to do before he could start receiving messages— he sent one of his own. The app sent him a list of compatible persons, each with different avatars of animals or creatures.

“Alright Mr. 99% match; let’s see what you’re about,” Tyler said allowed and began to scroll through his page. Sigur Rós was listed too, as well as Death Cab for Cutie. The account—Spooky Alien, which was an avatar a hundred times cooler than Tyler’s— had fine answers that didn’t set off any red flags. In fact, he had Tyler laughing with some of his responses.

_What’s some advice that has really stuck with you?_

_“One thing my grandpa always said is make sure you never roll a tire down a hill if there’s a cow standing behind you wearing rubber boots.”_

Tyler decided this guy was quirky and interesting enough to send a quick message to and then he’d head off to bed. Spooky Alien’s profile didn’t have the green dot signaling that he was online, so there was no sense waiting around for a response.

“ _Hey. Would you rather be attached by one horse-sized chicken or a hundred chicken-sized horses?”_

Message sent. Mission accomplished. Tyler gathered up his stuff and headed to bed.

* * *

Tyler completely forgot about the message until long after he finished his shift, ate dinner, and played a few rounds of Fortnite. The app showed that he had 5 notifications— new messages from Dancing Sailor, Lavender Bear, Cloud Porcupine, and Blue Apple, and a reply back from Spooky Alien. Frankly, Tyler was overwhelmed.

He opened up the conversation with Spooky Alien, feeling more comfortable that he had already vetted this profile.

“ _Great question. I think a hundred chicken-sized horses because they’re much smaller than me, and won’t have talons. I could easily fight back.”_

Tyler smiled, “ _that’s a good answer. They’re at a better height for kicking away.”_

Spooky Alien wrote back instantaneously. “ _A horse-sized chicken is a really scary thought. Scarier than a horse-sized horse.”_

_“You’re right. You’re lucky, by the way— your username is cool. Idk what I did in the quiz to end up with ‘Blue Bambi’.”_

_“Aw, no it’s cute.”_

_“Thanks a lot, dude. I’m new to this app so I don’t really know how this all works.”_  Tyler rustled through his freezer, looking for pizza rolls.

“I can hear you in the fridge, so you better share some pizza rolls with me!” Mark shouted from the living room.

“You’ll have to kill me first!” Tyler yelled back but doubled the amount on the tray.

Tyler’s phone dinged, “ _Yeah, it can be overwhelming at first. Any dating app is. I’ve been on this one for a month, and it’s been the best one I’ve tried.”_

_“My friends wore me down and now I’m here.”_

_“Mine too,”_ Spooky Alien agreed. “ _I got fired and dumped like the same week so they thought this would cheer me up.”_

_“Man, that sucks. So has it cheered you up?”_

_“No worries. Kinda my own fault… the firing that is. I worked at an ice cream parlor and was all distracted about the breakup, so I accidentally turned off the freezers and all the ice cream melted. As for cheering me up, a little… haven’t really found anyone I’ve enjoyed talking to longer than a day or so.”_

_“Ngl, that’s a little funny,”_ Tyler knew he was taking a bit of a risk with that reply, but it was indeed kinda hilarious.

“ _Yeah, definitely. Especially cuz my ex boyfriend’s family owned the ice cream place._ ”

“ _Nice! Revenge, lol.”_

_“Oh no! I promise I’m not like that!”_

“ _It’s all good. I’m sure he deserved it though,”_  Tyler wondered if it was okay to be talking about exes in the very first online conversation, though he didn’t have a lot of experience to judge that against.

_“Yeah, totally. And I just got a new job, so everything is working out now.”_

_“Good for you,_ ” Tyler replied, one handed as he tested the pizza rolls, which still needed more time. “ _How’s that going?_ ”

“ _Only worked two shifts. Fine, except this one guy who’s worked there for awhile was a real dick to me for no reason. I’m kinda dreading seeing him again.”_

_“What happened?”_

_“Dunno, I was just training with him and the whole time he was super hostile. I was trying to get to know him and he basically ignored me or was really rude.”_

“ _Wow that sucks. As if starting a new job isn’t hard enough… Screw that guy, honestly. Not worth your time. Give him back what he’s giving you.”_

 _“Yeah, you’re right. I’m tired of people just walking all over me cuz I’m nice!_ ” wrote back Spooky Alien.

“ _Hell yeah dude!”_ Tyler responded, encouragingly. “ _So I see you like Death Cab… what’s your favorite album?”_

“Tyler, do I smell the pizza rolls burning?!” Mark shouted.

“No! They’re fine.” Tyler rescued them in the nick of time.

“Why are you grinning so much at your phone? Talking to a hottie?” Mark asked, coming into the kitchen to claim his share.

“Nah, well maybe. I don’t know what the guy looks like, but yeah… I’m on _Classifieds_. Talking to someone.”

“Good for you. Keep going,” Mark slapped Tyler on the back, and then shoved a pizza roll in his mouth. “Make me proud… get some nudes,” was all Tyler deciphered.

Tyler rolled eyes and kept messaging Spooky Alien.

* * *

There was a looming storm for anyone who spent their life working in retail. Jingles of seasonal bells and whispers of shocking sales prices brought many customers through the stores. Tyler was super busy at every shift, which was great for the company since David was in the formal process of leasing a new storefront. All Tyler wanted to do was impress David into giving him a manager position, but making David happy was proving to be more difficult than ever.

The owner was irritable and short with the staff, accusatory when people were late and often cornered people with questions about their comings and goings. The staff was tense whenever he prowled the floor, and just chalked up his behavior to stress about the new location.

Tyler was shocked that the new guy, Josh, had actually settled in and stuck around, but that didn’t make him like the guy at all. Though they may have started off on the wrong foot, Josh seemed far from wanting to make amends with Tyler. Everyone really liked him, but Tyler saw through his Mr. Nice Guy facade. He would catch Josh rolling his eyes at him at least twice a shift, and blatantly started to disrespect him.

Josh laughed openly when Tyler tripped over a demo Roomba, and didn’t even ask if Tyler was okay. He’d get Starbucks for anyone else working, leaving Tyler out.

“It’s fine, I don’t even _like_ dirt water,” Tyler informed Mark each time, loud enough for the dark haired devil to overhear.

“Yeah, we’ve heard,” Mark sipped at his own steaming cup of soil, extremely disloyal, in Tyler’s opinion.

“How about a nice hot cup of shut the hell up?” Josh’s muttered just loud enough for Tyler to overhear.

The two nemeses exchanged barbs with each other whenever they had to be near each other for longer than two minutes.

“You make me wish I had more middle fingers,” Tyler exclaimed upon finding out that Josh had requested off for a day he wanted and thus Tyler had to work instead. He was stuck doing inventory with the jerk, just a couple days before Black Friday.

“You’re such a douche,” Josh shot back, sorting through a delivery.

“Bite me.”

“You wish your teeth were as nice as mine.”

“And you just want to get your mouth on me. Well this hot piece of ass—” Tyler pointed at himself. “Is taken by a guy cooler and kinder than you could ever hope to be.”

“I feel bad for that sucker,” Josh scoffed. “Unless he’s just some guy you’re catfishing.”

“Oh, suck a dick, Dun.”

“You wish.”

“Again… I really don’t,” Tyler said airily. “You probably couldn’t even give a free blowjob away. Face like that—”

“Screw you, Joseph. I’ll have you know that _I as well_ have a boyfriend. And he doesn’t have a shallow bone in his body, unlike you. _My boyfriend_ is smart and artistic, and you don’t hold a candle to him at all,” Josh got up into Tyler’s space, snarling with those infuriatingly perfect teeth.

“You seem to know a lot about catfishing… I bet you’re doing that to _your_ fake boyfriend,” Tyler was seething as well. “And as for artistic, you don’t know anything about me, Dun. And I’d like to keep it that way. Go take your lunch break, I’d rather finish this off with Lyle, which is saying a lot.”

“You know what? Someday you’ll go far, and I hope you stay there,” Josh spat out and stormed out.

Tyler took stock in the storeroom; wondering if he won that fight, and tallying the jabs they exchanged. But whatever (wrong) opinion Josh held of him didn’t matter. He had Spooky, and that’s all that mattered in the grand scheme of things.

He may not know Spooky’s real name or what he looked like— together, they decided to take _Classified_ ’s rules seriously. They’d been talking for three months and it was still thrilling for both of them to have all this unknown.

“ _What does it matter what either of us look like, as long as our minds meet?_ ” Tyler wrote to Spooky on Thanksgiving, hiding out in the coat closet to get away from everyone for a few minutes.

He was able to celebrate with his family an early dinner, since he had to go to bed for an early Black Friday rising at 4am. Already he was anxious about the long shift the next day, and also feeling very emotional about being the only kid in his generation without a present significant other. He expected Spooky to rebuke his statement, tell him he was being overly poetic, but as always, his boyfriend was as sweet as ever.

“ _That’s so beautiful. Don’t get me wrong_ — _I do want to meet you, like so, so badly. but waiting for that will making finally seeing each other so much more special,”_ Spooky agreed.

“ _I think a lot about meeting you. I hope I’m not a disappointment._ ” Tyler confessed, truly scared about it. He knew there was no way that Spooky would be anything less than wonderful— he was just so genuine and sweet in his messages. Tyler was terrified that he would not be what Spooky expected, that he’d see through him and everything would fall apart.

 _“There’s no way. We’ve been talking for so long and I haven’t seen any of the warning signs people say to look out for. You’ve told me so much, I know it’s all real. When we do meet, it’s going to be amazing. I know it._ ”

“ _I guess you’re right._ ”

“ _Of course I am! I like to imagine our first meeting whenever I’m anxious at work (especially when you-know-who is causing problems, lol),_ ” Like Tyler, Spooky had a really jerky coworker that said some mean stuff to him regularly, and purposefully excluded him from staff social events.

“ _What do you imagine it to be like?_ ” Tyler asked, having his own fantasy about meeting Spooky in a park and sharing a park bench. They’d wear red carnations— the state flower of _home_.

“ _Sometimes I wish you’d show up as I’m closing at work, like a really stressful day, and then you’re there. But I think it’s more likely that we’d meet in a restaurant. You’d walk up to me and say something that only we knew what it meant. And then… I don’t know… We’d just say hello to each other, because we don’t have to say anything else_ ,” Spooky said.

“ _I’d like that a lot_ ,” Tyler felt tears brimming in his eyes.

“ _I dunno. You make me feel all romantic and stuff. Usually I don’t say such… flowery stuff, but reading all your poetry is affecting me. I was just rereading_ Anathema _again._ ”

Tyler had sent Spooky some of his poems over the past few months, lines he had never shown anyone else in the entire world. Spooky had been so receptive to a part of Tyler that he had always felt so self conscious about.

“ _You’re the best. You make me so happy,_ ” Tyler said, wholeheartedly.

“ _Me too. Now I’ve gotta go eat till I pass out. Talk to you later, and have a good night_.”

Tyler was pretty sure he was falling in love with Spooky Alien. Head over heels for someone he didn’t know what they looked like.

* * *

Black Friday was actually not that bad, especially since Josh worked the shift after his, so they only had to growl at each other as they passed by. Tyler only had to break up two fights, and his injuries overall were just minor bruises from jostling crowds. He liked the constant flow of the dreaded retail event; it made the hours fly by, but his head was fuzzy and full of beeping from the cash registers and the hum of voices asking him question after question. Tyler woke himself up fifteen hours later by shouting in his sleep  at customers who weren’t even there.

“ _Black Friday kicked my ass, glad that’s over. Did you get some shopping done?_ ” he messaged to Spooky straight away.

Spooky didn’t write back till hours later. “ _Just woke up. Barely got time to get any shopping done before work_ . _Someone actually shoved me to the ground, can you believe it? People are so rude._ ”

The conversations flowed as they always had, but Tyler kept trying to think of the best way to ask Spooky out on a date. A real face-to-face meeting; the time had come, and he didn’t want to end the year without actually having a date. Tyler knew that the holiday season would just get busier at work, so he had to put his foot down and schedule a night to meet this guy who made him so happy.

Finally he just went for it. “ _Hey, do you want to meet up like this week or next?”_

Every moment spent waiting for Spook to reply was an eternity, and Tyler felt like his whole world was being crushed to the size of a soda can when he considered the possibility of being rejected.

“ _Sure!_ _I’m free Friday night, for once. Are you?”_

Pure elation; Tyler actually thrust his fist up in celebration, and cheered.

“Dude, did you just come?” Mark shouted from the room next door, clearly annoyed that Tyler woke him up from the post-Black Friday hibernation.

“Spooky Alien and I are going to meet in less than a week!”

“Finally!” Mark said loudly.

“ _Yes! I am! So what should we do?”_

They plotted out their plan, deciding on a local pizza place to meet, and that they’d indeed wear red carnations to signal each other. Tyler marked the date and time in his phone calendar, hands shaking from pure excitement and nerves. The moment of truth was going to be coming sooner than he thought.

* * *

Tyler thought that David’s bad mood would improve after the massive success of that holiday weekend. Tyler saw the totals since part of his duties as a senior member of the staff, were to help calculate the preliminary daily profits and check the balances. Word got around how they did anyway, and it really was only the start of the season— every other year they did well, David was absolutely jolly, but something was different.

“I don’t know if he’s having marital problems,” Jenna whispered to Tyler that Thursday, the day before he was going to meet Spooky Alien. David had just told Tyler that he was moving him to midday shifts and that he had to hand in his key. “But I wouldn’t be su—.”

“Are you two gossiping about our boss?” Lyle’s silky, smug voice startled them both.

“Don’t you dare, Lyle. You heard nothing,” Tyler said in a low voice, stepping towards the creep.

Lyle grinned, self-satisfaction plastered over his extremely punchable face. He ran his hand through his douchebag haircut, showing off the new Apple Watch— full price, as he informed anyone who was stuck listening. Tyler and Jenna often wondered together how Lyle had enough money to buy stuff and constantly flex on everyone. They all had the same job after all, and Mark concluded that Lyle was probably a drug dealer, despite his goody-two-shoes act.

“Everyone gather ‘round!” David called, stepping out from his office. The employees all mumbled to each other, circling up. “I’m calling an urgent team meeting. Everyone needs to be here tomorrow at 9pm.”

The entire store broke out into exclamations of protest.

“David, c’mon we need more warning than that!” Mark said

“Can we do this on Monday?” Jenna suggested.

“No, it can’t wait,” David said shortly.

“Are we losing our jobs?”

“You’re fine, Tom.” David assured. “We need to discuss some _things_ that have been happening.”

“I’m sorry, David, but I can’t—I have another commitment at that time,” Josh piped up. “I’m sorry but.”

“Me too!” Tyler chimed in. “Can’t we do this Monday?”

“Josh, that’s fine, I’ll fill you in the next day you’re working. Tyler—no _you_ need to be here,” David offered no further explanation. “Back to work.”

“Are you kidding me?” Tyler lost his cool. “That’s not fair! How come he can miss the meeting? I’ve worked here longer than he has!”

Everyone went silent, including nearby customers.

“Don’t make me embarrass you in public,” David said warningly.

“Can I speak to you in private then, please?” Tyler demanded.

He avoided Mark and Jenna’s worried looks, Lyle’s delighted expression, and whatever dumb face Josh was making. He followed David into the office, which was covered in many papers. That was very unusual for David, who always kept the office neat.

“You’ve been working for me since the beginning,” David started. “And that’s why it’s very hard for me to— Tyler, I’m giving you the chance to come clean.”

“W-what do you mean?” Tyler was utterly confused. “I just wanted to talk to you and, I dunno, figure out what’s going on. You’ve seemed really mad at—”

David slammed his hand on the desk. “Don’t make this worse for yourself. We can work through it, figure out how to make sure you don’t lose your job over this.”

“Lose my job?!” Tyler exclaimed, his heart racing and stomach plummeting. He felt close to panicking, and his mind spun through everything he had ever done—what could David possibly be talking about? “I don’t understand. I haven’t done anything.”

“If it’s going to have to be this way… It kills me to do this, because I view like my own son. I’ve invited you over to my house for family parties… There was no question in my mind that you were going to be promoted to manager in the new year,” David’s voice cracked, and Tyler felt close to tears himself. “I don’t want to get the police involved, but I have proof that money has been going missing for months and the computer security says that you are the one logging in.”

“I’ve never stolen from the store! That’s not me! David, I swear—”

“I want to believe you, but I’ve been watching for months.”

“Someone else probably knows my log-in. That’s not enough proof!”

“It may be for the best if you’re the one to resign. I don’t want to fire you and cause all sorts of problems for you. I just hope you reform your ways…” David turned away from him and Tyler stepped forward, touching his arm. David pulled back like he’d been burnt.

“I-I… David, I promise you. It wasn’t me. Please, let’s talk about this. Someone is stealing from you, but it’s not me. They’re just framing me!” Tyler was hyperventilating, dizzy.

“I’ve had this happen before, and I gave that person a chance. Turns out then that I was the sucker and he continued to steal from me. Tyler, please just go. I’ll give you the rest of your month’s salary. Just leave.”

Tyler stumbled out of the office, clutching onto the wall for support. He didn’t even know where to start, where to go. He was destroyed— he loved his job and he had put so much of his life into moving up and becoming a manager. For once in his life, it felt like everything was falling into place, and he was actually happy more days than not.

It was all taken away without warning, weeks before Christmas. He had to start again and that was the very last thing Tyler wanted to do. His birthday had just passed—thirty; no job, nothing to be proud of. Humiliated, confused, broken— Tyler felt shaky and numb with disbelief.

“Are you okay?” a soft voice asked him, and it took every ounce of strength for Tyler to turn his head and look at the person. It wasn’t Mark or Jenna like he had expected, but Josh, looking infuriatingly concerned.

Tyler didn’t want to cry in front of him, and if he had lost his job, might as well say what he wanted to say all along.

“Go fuck yourself, Dun,” Tyler said with all the venom he could muster, and then stormed out.

“Ty, what happened?” Jenna asked, following him as he walked out.

“David got rid of me. That’s it. He thinks I stole money from the store. And- and- I need to be alone,” Tyler was three store fronts away when he had to stop and bend over with his hands on his knees.

Her hand on his back was grounding, as she directed him to take deep breaths.

“Don’t want you to get in trouble, you should go back to the store,” Tyler said.

“I’m taking my lunch break. C’mon let’s go sit down.”

She stayed with him as long as she could, and put him in a good enough place to drive home. Tyler immediately crashed into his bed, wrapped himself in his covers and hid until Mark came back from work and tried to comfort him. Tyler hadn’t felt that completely devastated in as long as he could remember. Absolutely blindsided, Tyler couldn’t sleep or cry, just wondering endlessly what lead to this moment.

His phone buzzed around midnight _“I’m looking forward to seeing you later._ ”

Spooky; how could Tyler meet him now? He was embarrassed at being unemployed, unsure if he could muster an ounce of happiness. But he looked forward to meeting Spooky so much, he didn’t want to bail on him.

“Mark, can you help me?” Tyler walked into the kitchen with his blanket wrapped protectively around him.

“Whatever you need, dude.” Mark placed his bowl of cereal down.

“My date is tonight.”

“Oh yeah… oh no…”

“Can you please… can you come with me?”

“You’re still going to go?” Mark said incredulously.

“I- I think so.”

“Hey that’s good. Proud of you. So you want me to sit in the corner or something?”

“Yeah, I guess. I’ll feel safer if you do, but yeah, I’m going to meet Spooky tonight,” Tyler said, feeling an ounce of confidence return to him.

* * *

“I can’t do this,” Tyler said, in an absolutely panic outside of the California Pizza Kitchen.

“Dude, you look good. Spooky is going to be so excited to meet you— you’ve been saying you want to meet him for months. Do I have to drag your ass in?” Mark couldn’t hide his exasperation.

Tyler wore a nice salmon-pink button down, with a red carnation pinned to his chest. His hands shook, and Mark kept a hold of his arm so he wouldn’t run off. People passing by were giving them second glances, clearly confused.

“Can you just—can you look in and tell me if _he’s_ there? I will die if I have to sit there and get stood up. He texted saying that he’s sitting in the second booth on the right side, but with my luck maybe he’s just leading me along and he’s not there?” Tyler begged.

“Yeah sure, but you better not run away. I know where you sleep,” Mark threatened with a soft smile on his face.

Tyler waited as Mark walked into the restaurant. He did consider bolting, but before he could make his feet move, Mark was coming back outside. There was a strange smile on his face, like he was holding back laughter.

“What? What’s going on? Did you talk to him? What does he look like?” Tyler hopped a little on the balls of his feet.

“Nah, I didn’t say anything to him. I think you’re going to be—“ Mark laughed a little, “He’s— he looks really nice, and uh, he looks a lot like Josh from the store.”

“Josh? What do you mean?”

“Well, I know you don’t like Josh, but you have to admit… he’s kinda hot.”

Tyler hemmed and hawed, “I mean- uh, yeah… he is… I guess.”

“Look, you may have had your differences with Josh but he’s a really cool guy. You’ve gotta give him more of a chance,” Mark insisted.

“Uh, okay… but what does this have to do with Spooky Alien?”

“It’s Josh,” Mark dropped the bomb. “Josh is your online boyfriend.”

“What?!” Tyler exclaimed, not believing his ears.

“Josh is sitting there, in the second booth on the right with a red carnation, looking extremely nervous.”

“Oh no. Oh no…” Tyler felt dizzy again. “You’re shitting me. I can’t— and I’ve been such an asshole to him the whole time… he’s been complaining about _me_ to _me_ and— Mark, what do I do?”

“Don’t you dare leave,” Mark said in a dark voice.

“No— no, I… fine, I’ll go in there. You can leave, but I’m... thanks for coming with me.”

Tyler felt like he was walking to the executioner. All his insults to Josh, how rude he was from their first meeting; all along he was the guy that Tyler was falling in love with by his words alone. Lost his job, and now he was going to lose Spooky Alien— Josh. There was no way that Josh would accept him.

He didn’t know what made him do it, but he pulled off the flower and stuffed it into his pocket before Josh could spot him.

Josh eyed every person walking in, smiling warmly until they walked by and clearly weren’t… Tyler. He waited and watched for a few seconds and then walked into the light, toward Josh.

Recognition blossomed across Josh’s face and then horror. His eyes dropped to Tyler’s front— relief that no red flower was there.

“Well, hello there,” Tyler said loudly and slid into the seat across from Josh.

“What are you doing here?” Josh huffed. Tyler had never taken time to appreciate how smooth Josh’s face was, how his lips formed into a perfect downturn when he looked at Tyler.

“Was just passing through and saw you all alone— felt bad,” Tyler smiled, not sure exactly where he was going with this.

“No need. I’m waiting on someone. Actually— please leave.”

“Oh, who?” Tyler asked, and Josh pulled out his phone without answering. Tyler felt the buzz, guessing that Josh had sent him a message. “Your _boyfriend_?”

“And so?” Josh beautiful eyes narrowed.

“Nothing… seems like he may be a little late?” Tyler was vacillating about revealing himself.

“He’ll be here.. soon. I’m sure.” A moment of vulnerability crossed Josh’s face and Tyler was overcome with the urge to touch him.

“What if I’m your date?”

“Oh shut up. You’re being such a dick. I’m sorry you got fired, and I feel bad for you, but there’s no need for you to ruin my night, too.” Josh shot back, turning to the side, face away from Tyler and staring intently at the door. “You’re gonna scare him away.”

“Yeah… sorry. I’ll just… go.” Tyler stood up. “Good luck, Josh. I’ll see you around.”

Tyler almost stopped on his way out, looking back briefly at Josh, who was glancing hopefully at a guy walking past. His heart hurt, but Tyler kept going.

Spooky Alien had written: “ _Are you going to be here soon?”_

 _“Sorry_ ,” Tyler wrote back. “ _But I had the worst week of my life and I’m chickening out. I’m sorry. You look beautiful, though.”_

* * *

“C’mon Tyler. You’ve gotta leave the depression cave for a little bit, at least. I have tacos!” Mark’s voice startled Tyler from his blanket pile. Beef and cheese scent wafted into his room, and the growling of his stomach roused him to open the door. He’d been hiding out for a week.

“Thanks—” Tyler attempted a grab for the taco, but Mark held it back.

“Come to the living room for a few minutes. I’ve got something to talk to you about; hear us out and then you can have your taco and go back to your room, okay?”

“Us?” Tyler asked, following Mark to find a group of (now former) coworkers sitting on the couches and chairs. “What are you guys all doing here?”

Jenna spoke first. “What happened to you wasn’t fair. Everyone here believes that you would never steal, so we want to clear your name, get you your job back, and figure out who is the _actual_ thief.”

Tyler looked around, taking attendance and realizing most of the staff was there—no Lyle of course— but _Josh_ was there. Josh was sitting in his living room in soft black sweater, seemingly flustered that Tyler was staring him down.

“Th-thank you, guys. I really appreciate it, but how?”

“Someone was logging into your account, right?” Brad asked.

“Yeah, maybe.. but who?” Tyler posed the question and everyone started firing ideas out.

“We should get which days the money was stolen and see who was working those days too, and..”

“David would never tell us—.”

“We could grab the security tapes!” Mark suggested

“David would really never give us those, and the one by the safe was acting up, remember?”

“What if the thief made the camera not work?” someone speculated.

“I have a video of Lyle stealing from the safe at the end of a shift,” Josh admitted.

“What?!” Everyone shouted.

“Of course it’s fucking _Lyle_!” Tyler exclaimed. All the nice stuff— it made sense. Tyler thought he had a trust fund, but it figured that Lyle would try to frame him.

“Yeah, I saw him rustling around there  a couple times. One time I filmed him and—” Josh stared at his shoes, turning bright red under everyone’s scrutiny.

“Why didn’t you _tell anyone_?” Jenna asked.

“I really wanted to— and that’s why I’m telling you now— but Lyle saw me and threatened me.”

“Hey Josh,” Mark said, “you're still fairly new—”

“I’ve been here like four months!” Josh protested.

“Yeah, but still,” Mark continued, “Lyle is all talk and no action. Jenna slapped him once and he cried. We can take care of him.”

* * *

Tyler couldn’t believe that not only was Josh the person he loved, but he was also the one who saved his job.  Tyler was hanging out by the hot Starbucks in the food court as Josh went to David that very next morning as soon as the store opened up. Sure enough, within minutes David was calling Tyler and apologizing profusely.

“Please come in, I want to say how sorry I am face-to-face.”

“Be there in two minutes,” Tyler said jollily.

“You knew this was happening, didn’t you?” David couldn’t help but laugh. “See ya shortly, kid.”

Everything was turning around, David begged Tyler come back, and offered him the manager position on the spot. Tyler accepted— he and David had enough history together, and he understood how the situation had looked at first. Anyone could have made that mistake, and besides, Tyler really did like David, after all.

“There’s one condition about me working here again,” Tyler told him.

“Anything,” David was pretty close to offering Tyler his car, willing to make it up to him.

“So if I’m a manager… Can I fire Lyle?”

“You deserve it.”

Tyler had never been more excited to see Lyle come into work for his shift at 11. Everyone else hovered in sections nearby, waiting for the main event.

“What are you doing here?” Lyle demanded, his usual self-satisfied smirk slipping off his face.

“I’d say the same for you,” Tyler responded, _his_ smirk widening.

“What the hell does that mean? _I_ work here and _you_ don’t, thief.”

“Ah, you’re wrong three times there,” Tyler said airly, “I’m not the thief, which you knew already, and I _do_ work here. Actually, I’m the manager—”

“What?!” the color drained from Lyle’s face and he look like he knew what was coming.

“—which brings us to the third point you’re wrong on… You don’t work here anymore. Get the hell out.”

“You… You can’t do that!”

“Oh yes he can,” David appeared, “You’re fired. Now go before I call the mall cops.”

Lyle turned and stomped out, stopping to glare at Josh. “I warned you—”

“Watch what you say… If you’re threatening my employees, then I’m going to have to call the cops.” David’s voice turned serious.

“There’s about six witnesses, right now,” Tyler said, “If a single hair on Josh’s head gets hurt, your ass will be in jail.”

For once, Lyle had no sassy comeback or snide remark, and he made his hurried exit out of the store and out of their lives. Everyone looked at each other in disbelief— finally they got rid of that annoying prick.

“Alright, alright. Fun’s over, crew,” David said. “Back to work. That’s what I’m paying you all for, anyway.” His words packed no punch; the fond smile on his face told otherwise.

Tyler wasn’t actually working that day, but he stuck around for a little— there was something he had to make right.

“Hey Josh, I just want to thank you for— dude, are you okay?” Tyler grabbed Josh’s shoulder, concerned by his pale face and quick breaths.

“I— I don’t know. I just… I know it’s okay, but that kinda scared the shit out of me. I, um, think I’m having an anxiety attack,” Josh gasped, voice tight.

“Hey, hey man, let me take you in the back. We’ll go somewhere quiet, okay?” Tyler steered him to the storeroom and helping him to sit on a box. “I’m just going to grab you a bottle of water, I’ll be right back.”

Tyler typed surreptitiously as he went over to the fridge, pulling up a note he had drafted and then pasted it into the _Classifieds_ messaging app. He didn’t hit send… yet.

“Here you go. Do you need to… talk about anything? I know we haven’t gotten along, but I want to start again, with you.”

“Thank you,” Josh smiled a little, and Tyler wanted to keep seeing his smile, to study his dimples and eyes crinkles. “That just took a lot, and it was kinda intense… also, look, please don’t make fun of me, but I, um. I got stood up when you saw me at California Pizza Kitchen last week.”

“Oh no? Really?” Tyler cringed, hoping Josh just thought it was in sympathy rather than guilt. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah… He said he saw me, but he couldn’t do it. I dunno, maybe I’m ugly.”

“No way!” Tyler interjected, slipping his phone out of his pocket and holding it behind his back.

“Well, thanks, I guess. Anyway, I haven’t heard from him since, and I guess it’s over.” Josh looked so sad and dejected, it broke Tyler’s heart again.

He hit send.

Josh’s phone buzzed audibly.

“Oh my God, it’s him!” Josh’s face immediately brightened.

“What? The guy messaged you after a week? I wouldn’t listen to him.” Tyler faked surprise. “What’d he say?”

“He says: I am so sorry that I have left you in silence, without any answers to your question. I understand if you never want to hear from me again, but my only excuse is that I was overcome by the whole situation. Seeing you sitting there, looking so real and handsome, I just couldn’t go and introduce myself. I am still trying to learn how to put myself out there, and you are everything I could have hoped for or imagine. You don’t have to give me a second chance, but I want to try again. I don’t know if I can fully express what I felt when I saw you (standing with a really hot guy by the way), except in a poem. Please accept this new poem I wrote for you as my sincere apology.” Josh’s face was practically glowing, smiling at his phone and missing the tears in Tyler’s eyes.

“He wrote you a poem?” Tyler kept his voice steady.

“Yes… he’s _very_ artistic, I told you.”

“What’s the poem say?”

“It’s private!” Josh insisted.

“Well, are you going to take him back? I mean… he just ditched you for a whole week!” Tyler said indignantly.

“Yeah, I am. He’s got a lot of deep feelings, and is an emotional guy, which you just wouldn’t understand,” Josh couldn’t help a little jab— seemed like the two frenemies had old habits. “I understand having anxiety about things like this. We _get_ each other.”

“I hope you two meet very soon, then.”

“Yeah,” Josh had a dreamy look on his face. “I hope for Christmas we will.”

“I think so, too.”

* * *

The store was open for Christmas Eve, and of course the rush of customers kept everyone busy the entire day. Tyler had been messaging Josh, promising to meet him after work, swearing he wouldn’t chicken out again. He kept his eyes on Josh all day, seeing how happy he was made the hours fly by. And before he knew it, they were closing up the store, and David was handing out Christmas bonuses. Tyler’s plan was already in motion

By sheer luck (i.e. Jenna had snuck Josh’s phone out of his pocket and “hid” it in the storeroom), Josh had to come back to the store to grab his phone. Tyler was waiting for him, since he had a key. They looked for a good five minutes before Tyler led him to the back.

“Ugh, I’m gonna be late to my date,” Josh groaned.

“I’m sure Blue Bambi would understand! What a silly username, by the way,” Tyler said.

“He didn’t choose it. The quiz gave it to him, but after tonight… I’ll know his real name.”

“Yeah, Maximillian Popski.”

“What?” Josh’s brow furrowed.

“Maximilian. He insisted on being addressed by his full name— I tried to call him Max, but he _only_ wants to be called Maximilian.”

“What do you mean?”

“Blue Bambi came by earlier. I think you may have been on lunch break.”

“W-what?! Why didn’t you tell me?!” Josh shouted. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah! He showed me the messages between you. Saw his poems.”

“How… what… Why did he talk to you?” Josh stuttered, sitting down on a box.

“Oh, he said he saw me in the window and recognized me as the ‘hot guy you were talking to in California Pizza Kitchen’ when he tried to meet you the first time. He just wanted to have it out with me before meeting you tonight. And I explained that nope, there’s nothing going on between us!”

“Good… good…” Josh said, dazed. “What was he, uh, like? Did he seem really… cool? Isn’t he really cool?”

Tyler pretended to consider, enjoying leading Josh a little on. “I mean… I guess he was cool… for his age.”

“For his age?”

“I mean, usually you don’t see older guys on these kinds of apps, but Maximilian seemed really adept at technology! And he looks very distinguished with the white hair.”

“White… hair…? He told me he was thirty.” Josh said in disbelief.

“Oh, I think he may have embellished… oh no, Josh, I’m sorry.” Tyler sat down next to him, and put an arm on his shoulders.

“No, no it’s for the best I know now… and not be surprised tonight. I can’t _believe_ that I got cattfished. After all this time…” Josh put his head in his hands.

“I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault… I just…”

“You deserve the world, Josh.” Tyler leaned closer. “You know what I wish?”

“What?” Josh looked up at him.

“I wish we could’ve started out on the right foot.” Tyler finally began to tell the truth. “That I would have welcomed you from the start and we could have gotten to know each other without all this drama and fighting. Over the past few weeks, it’s been nice _not_ bickering. And I wish… I wish I could’ve told you that first day that I found you really attractive.”

Josh stood up and Tyler followed. “What are you talking about? Tyler, you’re messing with me.”

“I wish that when you go to your date tonight, that it was me who walks in right at 10:30—” Tyler said in a rush.

“Please don’t make this more difficult than—”

“And I’d have on a red carnation, and I’d say—”

“Tyler…” Josh turned away, his face red again.

“ _I want to know you, I want to see, I want to say…_ ” Tyler recited his own words, pulling a red carnation from his pocket, and saw the exact moment when Josh realized.

He went completely still, and turned back around slowly. “You…”

“ _Hello_ ,” Tyler’s voice was choked.

“You!” Josh exclaimed.

“Hello, Spooky Alien. I would also rather fight a hundred chicken-sized horses.” Tyler said, and Josh jumped at him.

“It’s really you!” Josh hugged him, squeezing Tyler tight.

“Are you disappointed?” Tyler felt breathless from the constriction, and wasn’t completely sure that Josh wasn’t trying to strangle him.

“I’ll be honest…. I’m extremely confused, but also… I am so glad it’s you.” Josh said, letting go and Tyler took a couple deep breaths. “And I’m sorry I was so rude back to you all those time.”

“No, please don’t apologize. I was the dick first.” Tyler insisted.

“Yeah, I guess, but I also said some mean things.” Josh shrugged, unable to wipe the smile off his face.

“But are we okay now?” Tyler asked.

“More than okay,” Josh nodded, “This is the weirdest, and best Christmas present ever.”

“C-can I kiss you?”

Josh didn’t even respond, just grabbed Tyler by his shirt and tugged him into the best kiss of either of their lives. Finally, the months had built up to this very moment. All the messages they had exchanged, and bickering they had done in person, couldn’t compare to the touch of their loved one’s lips against their own. Surrounded by boxes, in the very store where they met— most wouldn’t consider it a romantic place, but for them, setting didn’t matter.

It was Christmas, and they had found their soulmate, who had been there all along.

**Author's Note:**

> phew, finished this in the nick of time for Christmas! I hope you all enjoyed, and maybe will take some time to watch the original source movie from 1940. (Remade in the 90s as "You've Got Mail"). I took some references from the movie and put this in here-- funny enough the red carnations were in the movie!!! What an amazing coincidence.
> 
> I'm teeentyonepilots on tumblr and trenchtowel on twitter. Please come say hi! More fics to come soon enough!
> 
> thank you to all my friends (especially ella for naming this, and erin for using the song idea). You know who you are, and you are very important to me. You make my every day feel like Christmas to be blessed with so many great friends. Happy Holidays and here's to a great 2019


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